Testimonials

“Belgrave is a community, the staff and teachers are just as interested in the families of their students, when you have a child in the cocoon of this school you are automatically included. This makes Belgrave a hugely happy and positive place to be which gives all parents the confidence to merrily wave their child off in the morning knowing their offspring will be in the very best of hands whilst they are away from them. There are only two places on this earth where I am confident to leave my son, his Granny’s house and school. Anywhere else I fret as he is a very vulnerable little boy due to his varied needs. In short, I don’t know where he would be, or us as a family, without Belgrave cheerleading us.”

“I am writing to express how grateful we are that our son has a place at Belgrave School. He has come a long way in his year and a half with you from the child so afraid of failure due to his dyslexic difficulties that he had disengaged from learning completely. We investigated eight other schools as well as home school as an option but we are convinced that Belgrave is the only suitable school for his needs. It is the only school in the Bristol area that offers dyslexia specific help. Having a dual diagnosis of aspergers syndrome and dyslexia it has been crucial in addressing the dyslexia.

Thank you for believing in our son and helping him to re-engage in learning. We have been amazed to see the transformation in him into a calm and happy child willing to learn.”

“We are truly amazed at the breakthrough and progress our daughter has made. When she came to you she was more than 2.5years behind with reading. Over the last two terms she is now reading, she has at least kept pace and possibly closed the gap a little and her progress has been outstanding.

To hear her actually read a book, to herself or read a sign as we pass it in the car has brought real hope.

She had struggled greatly in the mainstream school she was in and despite their best efforts it was clear that little to no progress was being made. We are certain that the smaller class sizes, dyslexia teaching as part of the curriculum and other interventions by the school have made this critical difference to her learning.

She now has full access to the curriculum something not possible in her previous mainstream school.”

“We would like to take this opportunity to express our gratitude for the help and support that our daughter has received since joining your school.  The care she has received from all the wonderful staff from very start has been above and beyond.  This is reflected not only in her academic work but holistically.  In her time spent at Belgrave she has transitioned from a depressed, highly anxious, broken spirited child with low self-esteem to a bright young happy girl that loves school, is willing and able to take part in group activities and has a great future working at her best.”

“The school deserves far more recognition for the miraculous work it carries out for those few lucky enough to attend.”

“Our son was very much a lost soul towards the end of primary school and although the staff at our primary school were immensely supportive they just didn’t have the facilities, time or training to be able to offer him the time and support he needed. He was at an emotional low and we were both very concerned for his future. And then he came to Belgrave, the most amazing school and group of staff I have known. All of you from secretary to support staff, teachers and head teacher have been quite outstanding. You really ‘get’ these children and are constantly working to support and encourage them. You know them as people, their strengths and their weaknesses and their anxieties. You have and continue to give these children a sense of purpose and self-confidence so that they grow and fulfil their potential.

How he has grown over his time at Belgrave (in more ways than one!). He has developed into a confident and self-assured young man and I cannot tell you how proud we are of him. This is in no small part down to ALL of you and you should not underestimate your part in shaping him into who he is today. He is a funny, confident, mature young man and we feel he has the world at his feet. Isn’t this something that we hope all young people will feel at the end of their school life? He will have future struggles and anxieties for sure, but his experiences and support at Belgrave will stand him in good stead for being able to cope with what life throws at him.”

“The whole team go above and beyond.”

“I just wanted to say thank you so much to you and the dedicated team at Belgrave for our time at the school. I also wanted to say we are so grateful for the help you gave us to secure his EHCP. Without you I don’t think we would have got it and he would once more be cast back into the state system with no extra help.”

“Belgrave has been a lifeline for our son who has enjoyed a warm and supportive school experience there since he was nine years old. We were despairing of his primary school when we first started to look into transferring him. He had been bullied, unsupported and literally left in a corner to fend for himself in the classroom. His mental state was such that I could see him steeling himself to go into the school and eager to leave. He was retreating into himself and the selective mutism had really taken hold.

Yet from the day he did his taster session to his last day at Belgrave School he has absolutely loved going in. His demeanour changed in the playground from day one. I could see he was amongst a kind, tolerant and supportive cohort of children and parents. For us as parents we were able to breathe a sigh of relief that he was among professionals and peers that understood who he was and did not treat him like he was a problem. Over the years I spoke to many Belgrave parents who had similar stories of their children’s previous schools – of exclusions and humiliations, their child’s eventual loss of confidence in themselves.”

“Since day one at Belgrave we as a family actually saw a physical as well as a mental change in our son. He would come out the school day chatting with his friends. When I dropped him off I could hear boys shouting his name. When we secretly observed him, when we had meetings at the school we could see his engagement. All a massive contrast to his previous experience.”

“What Belgrave did for our son was to give him space to be himself and no longer be fearful.  I think his trauma was such that it took the first couple of years to build him back up to a fit psychological state to actually start learning. We know he isn’t terribly academic but at Belgrave he actually had a crack at it . Latterly his art teacher believed in him and encouraged him to have confidence in his own abilities as an artist. She has gone the extra mile to build him up, going out of her way to chase us up to push him, using her own time to help him and encourage him. That is real dedication and that is real teaching.”

“One of the key strengths of Belgrave is not that it’s just a small school it’s a shared appreciation of individualism and the strength that can be derived by developing children’s confidence and empowering them to believe in themselves so they can learn. As we know education isn’t just about qualifications it’s about learning about other people, the world and our place in it. And this is what Belgrave does. So thank you to all the team at Belgrave. Long may you continue to do a brilliant job. You are really filling a gap in a competitive education system that seems to only recognise one kind of intelligence. Your holistic approach to the mental and social wellbeing of the child should be an example for all education systems. It’s not rocket science but it appears you have cornered that particular market.”

“Thank you so much for all you have done for my daughter. I can’t express enough how much I appreciate it. All throughout her education, I have found school life as a mum very difficult.  People have ostracised me looked down on me and I have always had numerous meetings and phone calls emails etc. When she got accepted at Belgrave it was such a relief for me. You are all such amazing kind caring people, and have been such a great support to her – she is so very fond of you.”

“We just wanted to thank you for all your help and support with this year. He has really enjoyed his time being taught by you and will miss you immensely. He has grown and developed a lot over the last year so thank you from the bottom of our hearts.”

“For a long time now I have been meaning to write a generalised thank you letter for the school so that there is something on file to show how happy we are that our son has a place at Belgrave. As I was typing I realised I was writing as though I was talking to a parent who was wondering if Belgrave was right for their child. I have decided to send this in so that it can be given to any nervous prospective parent as a reassurance, from one parent to another, that taking the leap from mainstream is often something they will wish they had done sooner.”

“I have often heard parents in the playground saying they don’t know what they would have done if they hadn’t got their child into Belgrave. I have said this myself many times and heard it echoed by all members of our family.”

“I firmly believe that mini miracles happen every day in this school from the child who wouldn’t talk to anyone being able to make friends, to a child whose mainstream school felt they’d never learn to read (they are managing rather well with the Biff and Chip books now and he is so proud of himself)!”

“Belgrave isn’t just about a pupils education, they care deeply about welfare, happiness, positive attitude, confidence. I would urge anyone who is considering applying for a place for their child, to attend an end of term service where they can observe children with Specific Leaning Difficulties take their place on stage and confidently participate with their class in the service. Then afterwards to seek out the parents of those children and ask them if they ever thought their son or daughter would ever be able to do that. For me it has been exciting to watch the children grow and to then hear of their triumphs, it gives me such optimism that my son will be able to progress too.”